Tag: Lent

A Clean Heart: Homily for the 5th Sunday of Lent 2024

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5th Sunday of Lent, B                                                                                      March 17, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/Rq7nymESj0w When I was a kid, my boy scout troop would take rock climbing trips. Now, we all knew that falling from a great height can kill you, which is why we were careful to use ropes, harnesses, and anchors to keep us safe. We were taught how to use it and we knew that the gear was perfectly safe. But when you’re 70 feet off the ground, barely clinging to a tiny handhold and your feet start to sleep… you suddenly know the power...Read More

Exiling Ourselves: Homily for the 4th Sunday of Lent 2024

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4th Sunday of Lent, B                                                                                      March 10, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/f_3QXhry7rc From about 605 to 535 BC, God’s chosen nation of Israel went through the Babylonian Exile, described in the first reading. Our psalm today is a lament, a song expressing the sorrow the Jews felt when it seemed like God had abandoned. Why, though? Why did God allow the Babylonians – a pagan empire – to conquer Jerusalem, destroy the temple, and exile His people to a foreign land? [      ] Sin, obviously. God promises never to abandon his people. Yet, he also promised...Read More

Resting In Zeal: Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Lent 2024

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3rd Sunday of Lent, B                                                                                     March 3, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/oQSiCq5f3Cg Zeal for your house consumes me. Does it, though? It’s possible to do the right thing without ever being zealous about it… even possible to do the right thing while avoiding zeal. Indeed, if you hear someone say, “oh, that girl? She’s a real zealot,” how do you think he intends that comment to be taken? As a compliment or a criticism? Odds are he means it critically. He might not be wrong. Zeal can be dangerous. Just ask Saul; his zeal drove him...Read More

A Trigger Warning: Homily for the 2nd Sunday of Lent 2024

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2nd Sunday of Lent, B                                                                                     February 25, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/vEuAWfzPkKY Image by CC 2.0 from https://www.flickr.com/photos/gcfairch/4189169360 A story. A true one, as far as I know. At a church elsewhere in Louisiana, there was a young pastor who once opened the door to find a gun pointed straight at him. Holding that gun was a nervous looking man who rather shakily said, “Father, I’m sorry but God told me I have to kill you.” Inspired, he quipped, “oh, God just told me to tell you that you don’t have to kill me anymore.” The...Read More

To The Bone: Homily for the 1st Sunday of Lent

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1st Sunday of Lent, B                                                                                      February 18, 2024Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/PLpt7gAnj1k In 1363, King Edward III of England decreed that every able-bodied man in the country must practice archery every Sunday and Holy Day, extending to boys as young as 12, 8, or even 5 years old. The bow and arrow has long been a deadly weapon. The deadliest version in the Middle Ages, the English Longbow, required the ability to pull 150 pounds or more of force with one arm. Thus the training from childhood. This lifelong training was so effective that a unit...Read More

For Glory: Homily for the 5th Sunday of Lent, A

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5th Sunday Lent, A March 26, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/AKSYbw8Q1jQ “Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man have done something so that this man would not have died?” Yes. The answer to that question and others like it is yes. “Can’t God just stop people from suffering? Isn’t He all powerful? Couldn’t he heal all cancer, stop all violence, save all children?” Yes, he could do those things just as he could have simply prevented Lazarus from dying. Not only did Jesus not prevent Lazarus’ death, he didn’t even hurry....Read More

That We Might See: Homily for the 4th Sunday of Lent

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4th Sunday Lent, A                                                                                          March 19, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/pgY0F1AJOE0 “Jesus had made clay and opened his eyes on a sabbath.” This line is an important clue to what’s going on here. Do you know what it’s telling us? What reference it’s making that helps us understand?... Whenever the New Testament says or describes something we don’t understand, it’s a good idea to ask “what part of the Old Testament is this referring to?” This is a great tip – people are always coming up with crazy theories about the book of...Read More

What We Don’t Want To Be True: Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Lent

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3rd Sunday Lent, A                                                                                March 12, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                     St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/g-i1keyBh1A The philosopher Peter Kreeft once summarized the 2 main ideas of atheism as: One, there is no God. Two, I hate him. A lack of faith is rarely purely intellectual. It is almost always connected to some kind of anger or resentment at who they thought God was supposed to be. It’s also pretty similar to what we see with this woman at the well. Jesus’ goal in this conversation is to give the water of life to this woman. But he first...Read More

Light in the Darkness: Homily for the 2nd Sunday of Lent

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2nd Sunday Lent, A                                                                                         March 5, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert                                                              St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette https://youtu.be/tPmcRz_qgxs To shine with the radiance of God, we must endure the cross. This is why Jesus tells his apostles not to share this glorious vision until after he has risen from the dead. It is why St. Paul tells Timothy and us to “bear your share of hardship for the gospel,” because what makes the gospel “good news” is this awareness of suffering and the cross. History bears this out. God promises to make Abraham into a great nation. You know your...Read More

The Snakes In Our Pockets: Homily Thursday 1st Week of Lent – Catholic High

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Thursday Week 1 of Lent March 2, 2023Fr. Alexander Albert Catholic High, New Iberia https://youtu.be/RWP1SmvkRBs “Which one of you would hand his son a stone when he asked for a loaf of bread, or a snake when he asked for a fish?” To put it bluntly, most of your parents would… they already have. When your parents gave you your own smartphone without any oversights… when they let you take unregulated internet devices into your room at night unsupervised… they have given you a snake instead of a fish. Maybe some of you have managed to avoid being bitten despite...Read More